10-03-2022, 05:56 PM
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PW Enlightenment
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Oath Keepers leader regretted not having guns on Jan. 6, prosecutors say at seditious
Oath Keepers leader regretted not having guns on Jan. 6, prosecutors say at seditious conspiracy trial
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WASHINGTON — The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers was recorded days after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol saying his "only regret" about that day is that the group "should have brought rifles," federal prosecutors revealed in federal court Monday.
Opening statements began Monday in the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes alongside Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell. Other members of the alleged conspiracy will go on trial in November.
The Justice Department alleges that Rhodes and members of his organization plotted to oppose the peaceful transfer of power, stockpiling guns in "quick reaction forces" just outside of D.C. that could be brought into the city at a moment's notice. Rhodes' lawyers have noted that he followed D.C.'s strict gun laws, which they say is an indication that he would have only acted upon an order from then-President Donald Trump. But the audio recording and other evidence prosecutors presented Monday suggest that Rhodes planned to disrupt certification of the presidential election regardless of what Trump said.
“My only regret is that they should have brought rifles,” Rhodes said in a recording from Jan. 10 played by the government. He added that they could’ve “fixed it right then and there” if they had weapons with them at the Capitol.
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Rhodes' defense attorneys are using a novel legal defense strategy, arguing that he believed his actions leading up to Jan. 6 were legal because he believed Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler said that Rhodes' references to the Insurrection Act were nothing more than an attempt to give legal cover for something that Rhodes, a Yale-educated attorney, knew was illegal. His proof? A recording of Rhodes saying the Insurrection Act references were "legal cover," which Nestler played for the jury.
The trial is expected to further highlight ties between Trump associates and the far-right Oath Keepers, who provided security for high-profile Trump supporters and had links to others in Trump's orbit. As NBC News reported, Kellye SoRelle — the general counsel for the Oath Keepers who was charged in connection with Jan. 6 last month — had been in touch with former Trump White House aide Andrew Giuliani in connection with her work for Lawyers for Trump during the 2020 campaign. SoRelle has said that Rhodes asked for her White House contacts ahead of Jan. 6.
Another Oath Keeper who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy told the court that Rhodes spoke with a Trump intermediary on the night of Jan. 6 and asked to speak directly to Trump while imploring the person “to tell President Trump to call upon groups like the Oath Keepers to forcibly oppose a transfer of power.”
Citing America's history of a peaceful transfer of power dating back to George Washington and John Adams, Nestler told jurors during opening arguments that the Oath Keepers "tried to change that history" by keeping Trump in power.
The defendants “banded together to do whatever was necessary, up to and including using force, to stop the transfer of power from Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden,” Nestler said.
“If Congress could not meet, it could not declare the winner of the election,” he said. “And that was their goal.”
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There were "Senators crying" as almost one on one FBI agents escorted 85 of them back to the Senate where "it looked like a bomb had went off.". You didn't dare take your gas mask off for the "pepper spray".
Scary.
Hunkered down in what for all they knew was there final destination on this earth.
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Sounds like we came very close to total destruction, now that we know one guy "Wished" he had had a gun. If he would have brought that gun, Trump would have been in the White House, and the world would be in ruins.
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